Bagaha/Patna: A court in Bihar’s Bagaha block in West Champaran has acquitted a man accused in a nearly 27-year-old kidnapping case, bringing to a close a prosecution that collapsed after its sole witness contradicted the original allegations.
The judgment was delivered on Thursday by the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge IV, Manvendra Mishra, in Sessions Case No. 871/2023. The accused, Ramji Rai, had been charged under Section 366 of the Indian Penal Code, which relates to kidnapping or abducting a woman to compel marriage.
The case dates back to June 1999, when an FIR was lodged by Paras Yadav at the Gobardhana police station, alleging that his daughter had gone missing a day earlier and had been enticed and kidnapped by Rai. Police filed a chargesheet the following year, but the trial progressed slowly, with formal charges framed only on June 21, 2024. The recording of evidence began in 2025.
During the trial, the prosecution examined only one witness — Prabhavati Devi, the complainant’s wife and the mother of the woman at the centre of the case. Her testimony proved decisive. Devi told the court that her daughter was an adult at the time and had left home voluntarily, adding that no kidnapping had taken place.
She also stated that her daughter later married the accused and went on to have four children, all of whom are now married. The prosecution failed to produce any independent witnesses or documentary evidence to support the original allegations.
In its order, the court observed that the prosecution had not established the charges beyond reasonable doubt. With the key witness withdrawing support for the case and no corroborative evidence on record, the court extended the benefit of doubt to the accused and acquitted Ramji Rai.
